PTA - The Cards Option

[Trevis Martin]

Okay, my group played a little session of this gem of a game and I really like it.  The question I have is that I've seen it mentioned around these forums, from Vincent, Emily and Co I think, that they use cards instead of dice for the resolution.  I've always liked playing card resolution systems.

If we count odds as successes do we count Aces at the top or bottom?  I'm going to assume the bottom since in that position they are a one and in the top position they are a 14.

Or are they both, the thing being on the bottom the ace is a success, on the top it would allow a player to narrate.

High card then narrates right?

Each player gets cards = screen presence + traits + fanmail.

producer gets one + budget.

Do you use another deck with a different back for the fanmail cards or do you just keep track?

What have you done with jokers, leave them in, take them out, use as wild, etc?

Common deck or does everyone use their own plus a central for fanmail?

Any other corners or things you do with cards instead of dice that I've missed here?

I have a good general idea I'm just curious if any of you who have used cards for resolution in this game have any advice for what works well for you.

thanks

Trevis

[Alan]

I thought the idea was to count either red or black cards as successes, then award narration to high card.

[Trevis Martin]

Oh!  Of course.  Why didn't I think of that.
then it doesn't matter weather you count aces high or not,

Good.

best

Trevis

[Eero Tuovinen]

Do you use another deck with a different back for the fanmail cards or do you just keep track?

I recommend this, otherwise it's somewhat of a hassle to keep them separate. So you need two decks - one where the budget/fan mail comes from, and another for all the other cards. The GM can hold both and deal when necessary.

When you start the session, deal the budget in cards to the GM, from where he can then reveal the cards as necessary. When audience pool grows, deal the cards right away to the pool, just nobody look at them before  they're used.

When dealing cards in conflict, speak aloud the reason for each card, so all players understand what's going on. I prefer to "justify" each budged card with some special effect or other visual detail of the scene, as it's being paid from the budged. The same method can be used when dealing traits as well. Deal the cards in front of the players so everybody sees how many each side has, but only let them reveal the cards when all traits, budged and fan mail use has been decided.

[Frank T]

I'll be using a Poker deck for the resolution and Poker chips for budget and audience pool. Should fit nicely, I guess.

- Frank

[Matt Wilson]

In the revised rules, there's no need for two card decks.

When you're setting up the conflict, deal out the cards face-down as you check off screen presence and traits and stuff. If you spend fan mail to get cards, set those off to the side, still face down.

Then when everyone has what they need, flip over all the cards to resolve, and feed the budget for every fan mail-bought card that comes up red.

Also, if you have a tie with number of red cards, hearts trump diamonds (because, I dunno, love conquers all or something), so if you have more hearts, then you win the stakes. If there's still a tie, then do something quick and painless like cut the deck for absolute highest value card.

Highest card, red or black, identifies narrator. Aces are low. If you have tied cards, hearts trump diamonds, which trump clubs, which trump spades.

Frank: Poker chips are awesome.

[Eero Tuovinen]

Matt: we've played just the way you outline. (Yeah, I've still to actually post the actual play report from our second session of that Christ & apostles game, despite writing it a month ago. Too busy.) A couple of comments:

- I'd like to use those two decks, despite only having used one this far. This might just be because the table we play on is a little narrow, and thus it's something of a hassle to "set cards to the side" when working the budget and fan mail. It's like, additional stress when you have to be careful and remember which pile is part of the budget-audience-fan mail economy and which isn't.

- We had a big tie in that second session. Stakes were about whether Pontius Pilatus could stop the commando-apostles from freeing one of their own, despite Christ's tears over the violence. I resolved the tie by dealing one card more to both sides, until only one side succeeded. This meant three or four extra cards per side before the situation was resolved, but that only increased the tension, I felt; we were all standing up and screaming when it finally resolved. Point: your suit method of resolving it is pretty non-intuitive and dull compared to that.

A thought: I might deal trait cards to the players at the start of the session next time, instead of having them check of boxes in exhange for the cards. This is the same principle as having the budget already dealt in front of me, and having audience and fan mail as cards. This way I have all the resources represented as cards on the table, which makes the game pretty concrete.

[Kenway]

My group played a quick game of PTA using cards.  There were a lot of ties.
 Similar to how Eero's game went, whenever we tied we added another card to all parties involved.  We suggested that the "stakes" rose as well, simulating the rising tension, although it didn't always make immediate sense.

[Matt Wilson]

Hey Eero:

Thanks for the feedback.

I've asked many people who don't consider themselves 'gamers' about the whole red cards/hearts approach, and they think it sounds just fine.

The whole, "A tie! Let's draw more cards!" approach sounds too much like GURPS 'rules creep' to me, and it messes up the odds of getting the high card if you're playing from the outside.

[John Harper]

Nitpicker's note: In most card games, card suits are ranked in reverse alphabetical order. So Spades beat Hearts beat Diamonds beat Clubs. Not that you have to do that, but it's pretty much a reflex for card players to count that way.

[Frank T]

In all German card games I know, clubs beat spades beat hearts beet diamonds.

[Rob Donoghue]

Assuming Babelfish is not full of lies, it looks like the logic of alphabetical order  is the same, just with language Differences:

Vereine(Clubs) Spaten(Spades) Herzen(Hearts) Diamanten(Diamonds)

I know I'll probably stick with Spades/Hearts/Diamonds/Clubs just because most folks I know already know it.

-Rob D.

[rafial]

Verein is club as in "my RPG club meets on Thursdays"... :)

Kreuz (Clubs) Pik (Spades) Herz (Hearts) Karo (Diamonds)

Sadly, it looks like alphabet logic cannot be used here...

[Rob Donoghue]

Verein is club as in "my RPG club meets on Thursdays"... :)

Kreuz (Clubs) Pik (Spades) Herz (Hearts) Karo (Diamonds)

Sadly, it looks like alphabet logic cannot be used here...

Curse You babelfish!  I willl have my REVENGE!

-Rob D.